Improvement in billiard-ball holders



W. B. so'UTHWoRTH.

BILLIARD 'BALL HOLDER.

No.177,026. Patented my 2,1876,

UNITED f STATES wILtiAM B. soUTHWo-nTmonNEwYemen. Y., AssIGNoe To' PATENT 'OFFICES ,OOLLENDER OFy SAMEl PLAGE.-

IMPRovEMi-:NT IN BILLIARD-'BALL HOLDERS.

' Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. [77,02G, dated May .2, 1876; application filed 1 y April 121e76.

tomary to provide billiard-tables with ball holders forthe convenience ofthe players andproprietors in billiard-saloons. But heretofore the holder or receptacle for the retention ot the fourth ball, while playing the three-ball game, has been formed in or adapted'to be attached to the side ot' the table.

There are several objections to the use of the ball holder or receptacle for the ball in disuse in the manner heretofore known, among which are these-viz., the inconvenience of the location of the ball-holder on the tablebody, the unsightly' appearance of any iixture on the table. which tends to mar the beauty ot appearance ot the latter and the opportunity afforded for the theft ofthe ball. I propose to overcome these objections by providing for use a ball-holder adapted to be suspended from the gas-fixture over the table; and I also propose to render the ball-holder, either when filled or empty, an ornament rather than 0therwise, to the furniture of the room by a symmetrical design and arrangement of it with the gas-fixture. t

To these ends and objects my invention con'- sists in a pendent ball-holder, or a ball-receptacle, composed, by preference, of metal adapted to depend from the lower central point of the gas-fixture, and provided with means for its attachment to the gas-tixture, as will be 'hereinafter more fully described.

It has been customary previous to my inven tion to have some separate sign or number to designate each table in the saloomand a very generally-adopted plan is that of having an artistically-appearing number plate or sign-plate attached to the gasfixture over each table. The use and convenience of such number plates or signs over or adjacent to,

each table are familiar to room-keepers.

2 I propose to utilize my pendent ball-holder as the bearer lalso of the 'table-number;land tot-his end my invention further consists in the'cmployment, iii' combination with a ballholder adapted to be arranged over the table, of a table number or mark 'ot' designation either formed on or coupled to the holder de vice, all as will be hereinafter more fully eX- 'plained.

is represented as holding a ball, and both are drawn full size. Fig. 3 is an elevation on a smaller scale, showing the arrangement of the ball-holder with the gas-xture.

`In the several tguresthe same part is indicated by the same letter of reference.

The ball-holder is made, by preference, ot cast metal, with an annular base or ring-like portion, A, to form a seat for the ball, and upwardly-projecting side bars or portions B, which converge at the top, and unite in an ornamental center-piece, c, the upper end of which is screwed or otherwise attachedtothe lower central portion of the gas-fixture, as illustrated at Fig. 3, and from the lower part of which depends the table number or sign S. This number-plate or sign may, ot course, be made of any desired pattern or design, and may be either plate-like, or ot' cubical or other shape, so as to prevent several'surfaces for the number, sovthat the latter may be easily read from different points of View. The signplate or ornamental number-pendant S may, it' deemed expedient, be so lattached to or conibined with the ballfholder by means of a hookand-eye, that it can be removed at replaced at pleasure, if necessary, for cleaning or altering the arrangement ofthe numbers of the tables in the room, or for other purposes. Y

The variations of design, form, and proportion, of which the holder device is susceptible, are almost infinite. I do not therefore lIii-uen w.;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same. In the rst of these figures the iixtnre propose to have itunderstood that my invem tion `is limited t0 .any `particularityof form or pattern of either the ball-'holder or the number-plate. It will, however, be understood that the annulus or base portion A should be of such diameter and body l of" stock, that while it shall forni a se'cnrexseat for, orretain-l-v er of, the ball of the size usually employed, it shall not permit the hall to enter within it so far as to indnee any inconvenient e'ort for its extricat-ion .xvith thengers whenlnthe `ball is4 wanted. And the size and shape of the vside bars B should be such that they will not be1 in the way of `the ready placement, thy lhand, l of the ball in the annulus or seat A, -ox of its 4 easy disiodgment therefrom.

and `hence less iliabletobelstolen, while atthe A Sametime it is `easy yof aecesaland rather adds than `detracts from the symmetryandartstie appearaneeof the tableand its accompanying fixtures.

While the ball-holder `and its contentsare tures, as show n, theyare-never in the wayof l the player, since, in makin-galilgstrkes [encept masse shots, the players `:cue and person' l never Vcome near thegas-xture, and in ele- `Vatin'g'zthe cue for the massi-ait must necessarily be placed always `between the `branch pipes -ot Ethel gasfxture, mail; ioenseq-uently,

1. A ball-holder-or recente,clemeimtnucted` and :adapted to be placed in a `pendentposition vover the table, snbstantiallyas described.

`2.1 '=.l.he combination of a ball seater retailier, and table numbermlam, Wihhlsinggle lsuyp porting :stemM-,or device, llbuiially las `idel scribedv in testimonyfwhereofi have thereunto seb mv hand and seal this ,24th day of March,

B. SOUTHWORT-H. [1...s.]

In presence oily MULFoRD W. HAYfwam), VGEORGE WwJoNES. 

